Statehouse off-limits for gay ceremonies

Friday

Jan 31, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2014 at 11:13 AM

The Statehouse welcomes weddings and receptions, but not if you're a gay couple. Since 2006, the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board - the agency that manages the Statehouse and grounds - has permitted couples to get married and hold wedding receptions at the Statehouse. The catch is, couples must provide an Ohio marriage license.

Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch

The Statehouse welcomes weddings and receptions, but not if you’re a gay couple.

Since 2006, the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board — the agency that manages the Statehouse and grounds — has permitted couples to get married and hold wedding receptions at the Statehouse. There were 22 marriage events at the Statehouse in 2013.

The cost is $3,500 for a wedding and $8,000 for a wedding with a reception, not including food and drink.

The catch is, couples must provide an Ohio marriage license.

Since the Ohio Constitution prohibits same-sex marriages, gay couples can’t provide a marriage license and thus aren’t permitted to have wedding or wedding receptions at the Statehouse, said Luke Stedke, Capitol Square spokesman.

Stedke said he was unaware of any requests for same-gender wedding events being rejected.

But representatives of gay, lesbian and transgender groups are upset.

“The ‘People’s House’ should be open and accessible to all Ohioans,” said Ian James of Freedom Ohio. He said his group wants Capitol Square officials to change the rules.

“It’s clear this is a public accommodation. Being a public agency, a decision based on someone’s sexual orientation seems to cross the legal lines for a federal lawsuit.”

“What’s most incredible about this policy is that the state is willing to discriminate while losing out on the revenue these receptions would generate, forcing taxpayers to make up the difference,” said Michael Premo of Why Marriage Matters Ohio.

Same-sex marriage advocates are working on a campaign to put an issue on the ballot, possibly as early as this fall, seeking to overturn the 2004 constitutional ban on same-gender marriage.

Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group that pushed the 2004 campaign, opposes changing Statehouse rules.

“The only marriage in Ohio is between one man and one woman,” he said. “They have no rights to any taxpayer-funded facility, period.

“It never ceases to amaze me how they try to bully people into getting what they want by using the discrimination word.”

Rep. Michael Stinziano, D-Columbus, whose Ohio House district includes the Statehouse, called the policy “very disappointing.”

Stinziano said he doesn’t think legislation is necessary, but he has asked Capitol Square officials to consider changing the policy.